This final act in Shakespeare's' "As You Like it" is a very brief, but dense act. One of the first things I noticed was the amount of repetition contained in the act. For example, in scene 5.2 Phoebe, Silvius, and Orlando all ask "If this be so, why blame you to love you?" all in consecutive lines. Another example of repetition is on page 223, Duke Senior tells Rosalind, "If there be truth in sight, you are my daughter" and Orlando tells her that "if truth be in sight, you are my Rosalind." What effect does this repetition have? Is it for emphasis? Is it just to contribute to the rhythm of the play?
Another thing I noticed in this act was Touchstone's identity conflict. In the beginning of act V, Touchstone hassles a young man named William (who also loves Audrey). Touchstone, seen as the fool to the majority of characters in the play, seems to downplay William's intellect and even calls him a fool. An example of this is when William says that he is witty and Touchstone replies by stating, "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." How is this consistent to Touchstone's identity conflict in the play overall?
3 comments:
I agree that Touchstone's behavior in Act 5 is really interesting. In particular, I am interested to hear what the class thinks about his feelings toward Audrey. Earlier in the play he seems to care little for her, but I think there is room to speculate there has been some turn and that he does care for her as the play ends. I think the evolution of this relationship is important to his identity conflict as well.
I agree Tracy. I simply overlooked the aspect of their relationship change, but you are totally right.
It's really interesting that you brought up the repetition in the final act. I actually had not noticed that when I finished the play. I'm not sure of it's significance but it is definitely interesting to think about what Shakespeare meant by using that tool. As for the Touchstone situation I'm not sure if I see evidence between the time in which he almost marries her just to have sex with her and the end when he calls William a fool. It would be interesting to go back and look for that evidence.
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